A Year In The Making
by DarkAngel0410
Summary: or: How long it took two semi-intelligent people to realize that they belonged together. Slash.


**Story Title:** A Year In The Making, _or:_ How Long It Took Two Semi-Intelligent People To Realize They Belonged Together

**Story Type: **Slash

**Characters: **Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, mentions of Velvet Sky

**Pairings: **MMG

**Rating: **PG-13/NC-17

**Series: **None

**Disclaimer: **They're not mine, if they were you can be damn sure I'd be posting porn on here for everyone to enjoy. Since we're obviously porn-less, you can assume they belong to themselves and TNA.

**Warnings: **Slash, language

**A/N: **This took me fucken forever to finish. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy it.

**January **

Chris cracked his eyes open and winced when his head started pounding. What the hell had happened? He tried to remember, but he couldn't concentrate on to the blurry images long enough to make sense of them. Fucken whiskey. Fucken New Year's Eve. Fucken fuck.

He carefully rolled over onto his side, hoping it would help dampen the enthusiasm of the fuckers that seemed determined to play _In A Gada Da Vida _on the inside of his skull. Slowly opening his eyes, Chris wasn't surprised to see Alex passed out next to him, snoring softly. What did take him by surprise was the thought that Alex looked better with the scruff that he was letting grow back in; he looked more handsome with it, Chris mused.

Chris's eyes widened as he tried to come up with a reason for that thought, but before panic could set in, Alex moved onto his back and elbowed Chris in the jaw, completely distracting him. Chris retaliated by shoving his best friend off the end of the bed as hard as he could, sending Alex crashing to the floor.

Alex woke up when his head hit the floor. Opening his eyes, he glared up at Chris. "What was that for, motherfucker?"

"Being you," Chris answered before he rolled off the bed and stumbled to the bathroom, leaving Alex rubbing the back of his head and staring at the door.

**February**

They broke up the week leading up to Valentine's Day. Alex had to admit it was his fault; forgetting that the biggest girl holiday was on Saturday and making plans to hang out with Chris was bad enough, refusing to change said plans and telling Angel to go fuck off when she complained about it had been too much. So what if they had been out a couple weeks before for Chris's birthday? He had more fun with Chris then he ever had with Angel, anyway, and with Jamie out of town, he knew Chris would spend the rest of the day moping if he wasn't there to keep him busy.

She had completely freaked out, told him she was leaving and packed up all her shit that night. Her parting words to him had left him even more confused. Angel's advice to start dating the real person he was interested in made no sense to him.

Alex knew he wasn't the best boyfriend, but he figured he deserved points for trying. Besides, if Angel couldn't understand that he wasn't going to break plans with his best friend for her, then he was happy to see the back of her.

When he showed up at Chris's and let himself in, Alex had already pushed the fight from his mind. He dropped the movies onto the kitchen table, and went into the living room. He found himself staring at the back of Chris's head and thinking that if he had fought with Chris like that, he wouldn't have let him walk out that easily.

**March**

"I fucken hate snow," Chris informed Alex as they walked to the rental car. He threw his duffel in the back seat and half slouched over in the passenger seat.

Alex raised an eyebrow at his best friend's tone; Chris's hatred of snow was well known to him -hell, after almost ten years of friendship, there was hardly anything about Chris that he didn't know- but usually it was more of a resigned hatred, not the bitter, hard kind of hatred that was evident now.

He threw his own bag in next to Chris's and paused for a second before he climbed into the driver's side and started the car. There was only one or two things that would upset Chris that badly and since he hadn't heard Jamie call Chris at all while they were getting ready to leave, he was almost sure he knew what it was.

"Dude, we live in Detroit," Alex reminded him, making sure he kept his voice amused; Chris would tell him what was wrong when he wanted to. "Don't you think you should be used to it by now?"

"Maybe I'll just move to Florida," Chris muttered, still looking out the window.

"You hate the heat even more then you hate the snow," Alex pointed out, snickering when Chris scowled at him. "Besides, if you moved to Florida, you'd have to deal with Roddy's ass -not to mention that I wouldn't be able to grace you with my presence at a moment's notice."

"Way to convince me to move," Chris snorted, turning to look at his best friend.

He didn't say anything else, just put on the radio on but Alex saw his shoulders relax a fraction out of the corner of his eye and considered it a job well done.

Hours later, when they finally got to Chicago despite the snow, and after too many shots, enough beer to make Petey wince and a bar fight, Chris broke down and started babbling about why he felt the need to start a brawl with four people with only Alex as back up.

"She fucked him," Chris told him once Alex managed to get them to the hotel room. They were both battered, bruises and cuts dotting their faces and hands and they had been out of breath by the time they left the bar; the walk to the hotel hadn't helped matters, either.

Alex sighed and urged Chris to lay down on the bed; he got him out of his sneakers, jeans and t-shirt before covering him up with the blankets. This wasn't the first time one of them had to help the other one into bed after drinking their faces off -and he knew it wasn't the last, either.

"Why'd she do it, 'Lex?" Chris asked his best friend, his eyes already starting to close. "She said I never cared. But I did -not as much as wrestling or you, but I thought it was enough. And Johnny, too? Thought he was my friend."

The last word was said almost pitifully and despite himself Alex smirked; he couldn't wait to rag on Chris about how girly he was sounding right now. But that didn't mean he wasn't seething inside at what Chris had just said; he wouldn't touch Jamie -royally pissed or not, he'd never hit a girl outside of a wrestling ring- but that didn't apply to Johnny.

"Don't know, Sabin," Alex told him, his mind already trying to come up with payback for his best friend; Chris and Johnny were no where as close as Chris and himself were, but Johnny knew Chris and Jamie were together and friends just didn't do that shit to each other.

"Ya know what? Fuck, Johnny!" Chris told him as he tried to get out of the bed. Alex just rolled his eyes and shoved Chris back down. "Don' need him. Gots you. Ya'd never do that."

At those last words, Chris closed his eyes and his last semi-coherent thought was that he could always count on Alex.

Neither one of them said anything about it in the morning and if Chris noticed the contemplative looks Alex gave him through out the day, he didn't bring that up, either.

**April**

Chris stared at his cell as if he expected it to change colors. Ever since his mom suggested he call Alex and bring him over for Easter dinner, Chris had felt twitchy about the whole thing.

He knew his mom was just trying to make him feel better about the break up; even if he hadn't given her any of the details, it wasn't hard for her to figure out that it would make him feel better if his best friend was there.

For some reason, he felt kind of awkward about inviting him; they'd been spending even more time then usual together and it felt...date-like to invite him to a family dinner.

Almost immediately, Chris shook his head and laughed at himself; he needed to cut back on the weed if he really thought this counted as a fucken date.

Sill smiling, Chris picked up his phone and sent off a quick text.

_**Hey, asshole -what are you doing on Sunday?**_

**May**

They were in another bar -in California this time; for his birthday- when Alex had the first inkling that he might have feelings for his best friend that weren't strictly platonic.

Chris had gone over to the bar to order them some food to go with all the beer they were drinking and gotten waylaid on his way back to the table. Alex watched the rat flirting with Chris with barely concealed irritation.

Alex tried to shake it off; he knew that he shouldn't be pissed about his best friend possibly getting laid -especially since he knew Chris hadn't been getting any action since him and Jamie had broken up. He was just thinking about getting up and dragging Chris back over to their table when Chris turned back to the bar and grabbed their fries. Without even sparing a glance for the girl he had been talking to, he headed straight over to Alex.

The relief he felt at knowing Chris would rather hang out with him then get laid was so out of proportion to what it should be, that Alex knew he was in trouble.

**June**

Chris watched Alex talk to Petey from across the room; they were at band practice and he was absently plucking at the strings of his bass. As they both looked over in his direction, Chris wondered idly if they were talking about his break up with Jamie; Chris considered himself over it -and her- but Petey had a habit of worrying about _everything_.

Chris had dealt with it by spending even more time with Alex. It had been ridiculously easy; in between wrestling and the band, they spent most days together, anyway.

Maybe because of all the extra time together, Chris found himself thinking of his best friend _all the time_. No matter the situation, thoughts of Alex crossed and recrossed his brain.

Last night, he'd woken up, hard and aching, with a vague memory about the dream he'd just had; there wasn't any specific detail that he could recall, just that it had involved Alex. Chris didn't freak at all; it wasn't the first time he had that dream -fuck, it wasn't even the first time this _week_ he'd woken up like that.

The freak out after the first time he'd had the dream had been short but brutal; he'd stayed up for the rest of the night, gotten drunk and then slept through band practice. By the time Alex had shown up to make sure he hadn't died, Chris had already worked it over in his mind and he knew himself well enough to know if he was dreaming about Alex, like that, then he was already in deep.

Since then, he had come to the conclusion that he was in beyond deep, he had pretty much jumped off the deep end and landed in the 'in love with my best friend' section. The question now was, what should he do about it?

**July**

After a couple months of forced introspection -which he really fucken hated- Alex had to admit that he was probably in love with his best friend. And it was even more probable that he had been in love with Chris for months before he had even realized what the hell was going on. It would explain why he had hated Jamie so much, even before she had cheated on Chris.

It wasn't so much the idea that he was in love with a guy that bothered him; he'd been attracted to guys before, and although he usually preferred girls, he'd been with a couple guys. No, the problem was that Chris was his best friend; he was the only person Alex had ever been able to depend on besides himself and Alex was terrified of what would happen if he lost that.

There was also the fact that no matter how he ran the scenario through his head, he just couldn't see it ending with the two of them together. Alex was well aware of his own good looks, but the simple fact was that not only was Chris better looking the he was, he was smarter, stronger, more talented -not to mention that he was a hell of a lot nicer then Alex had ever even considered being.

Faced with either confessing his feelings -and even just the thought of it made Alex want to bang his head against a wall- and losing his best friend or shutting the fuck up and keeping the status quo, Alex knew exactly what the smart choice was. After all, he wouldn't lose Chris if he kept his mouth shut, would he?

Even though he knows that he's right and that he should hide _everything_ until he's the obnoxious dickhead that he usually is, Alex couldn't help the way he constantly watched Chris out of the corner of his eye.

It might be a poor substitute for what he really wanted, but it was better then nothing.

**August**

It didn't take Chris long to figure out what he wanted -but then, it never did; he had always thought that lying to himself was a waste of time when he could use that time and energy to get what he wanted instead- and it took an even shorter amount of time for Chris to decide what to do about it.

It was simple, really; Chris figured that if he just started treating Alex like they were already dating -without the sex, which sucked, but Chris knew that would be pressing his luck- Alex would realize that they should get together and then that would be that.

He gave a brief thought to just telling Alex straight out how he felt, but he discarded it almost immediately. Alex disliked talking about feelings -his or anyone else's- and Chris wouldn't have put it past him to go and sulk until he thought Chris had forgotten about the whole thing, just so he could avoid talking about it. No, being sneaky was Chris's best bet -and he had learned it from the best.

Chris knew that now it was only a matter of out waiting Alex's stubbornness; and they were as well matched in that area as they were in everything else.

**September**

Alex didn't know how much more of this he could take; it felt like he was about crawl out of his skin.

It seemed that every time he turned around, he ran into Chris -figuratively and literally. No matter where they were or what they were doing, Chris was leaning on him; an arm thrown around his shoulders when they were at band practice, Chris's feet on his lap when they were playing video games. It got to the point that if they were together and some part of Chris wasn't touching him, Alex started getting twitchy.

And on the rare times when they weren't together, Alex couldn't stop himself from texting Chris; it was like he was starting to get addicted to him and Alex couldn't figure out how to make it stop.

The fact that he didn't _want_ it to stop was something he tried not to think about too often.

**October**

Chris wasn't surprised when Petey realized something was going on -despite how much they ragged on him for being Canadian, and therefore, an idiot, Petey was actually fairly intelligent. And even more importantly, he _knows_ both of them better then just about anyone else. Chris had figured that Petey would realize what he was doing, and fairly quickly. What Chris hadn't counted on was the way he would react to it.

"Seriously, Sabes, what the hell is going on?" Petey asked and leaned back against the counter while Chris threw away the empty Chinese food containers from dinner. "If you get any more territorial about Alex, you might as well start pissing in a circle around him."

Chris snorted at the image before he turned to face him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, dude."

"Please, Chris, this is me you're talking to," Petey reminded him, rolling his eyes. "And I know when you're just being yourself and I know when you're edging into stalker territory. Give it up -what the fuck are you doing?"

"If you're that smart, you should be able to figure it out for yourself," Chris said, raising an eyebrow at the disbelief on Petey's face.

"Excuse my disbelief, Chris, but Alex? Let's put aside the fact that you've never been that into guys, Alex isn't exactly your type -I mean, have you ever seen him happy in a relationship? And I can't even remember the last time he bothered being faithful to one of his girlfriends.

"Maybe you should find someone -"

"I just dated someone who was exactly my type," Chris interrupted Petey, his voice flat "Remember how well that went?"

"Look, Chris, it's just – I worry about you guys, you know?"' Petey told him, his tone softening fondly. "After that shit with Jamie, I don't want you to go through that again -and I really don't want you to lose Alex in the process. I know how close you and Alex are -and I know how much he means to you.

"And sometimes I think you're the only one who can put up with Alex's complete and utter disregard for most of humanity. I don't want you guys to lose that friendship because of some stupid shit."

"It's not stupid," Chris said softly before he walked through the door way and then lounged on the couch next to Alex, swinging his feet into Alex's lap with a contended smile.

**November**

Alex sat on the bed in their hotel room and tried to convince himself that he wasn't a pervert -it was hard to make an argument for his case since he had just watched his best friend jerking off in the shower.

He hadn't thought anything of it when he went to open the door to the bathroom; it's not like it would have been the first time they saw each other naked and wrestlers weren't exactly known for their modesty to begin with.

But once the steam cleared and his eyes had adjusted, Alex had been unable to look away from the image Chris unknowingly presented. The angle wasn't perfect, but it he had been able to see Chris's back -what kind of fucken hotel had _glass_ shower stalls, seriously- and the way Chris was hunched over, his feet planted and the angle of his arm had made it obvious what he was doing.

Alex had no idea how long he'd stood there watching the water run down Chris's broad back, listening to the breathy moans, but when he found himself biting back a needy whimper, Alex fled back into the room.

He was still trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do when he heard the water turn off I the bathroom. Alex sat there for a minute, his mind franticly trying to come up with something, before he decided discretion was the better part of valor and dove under the blankets to pretend to be asleep.

He heard Chris come in and move around the room; Alex was sure Chris was going to hear his heart pounding and realize he wasn't really asleep. He held his breathe when Chris walked up to the bed but all he did was chuckle softly and ran his hand over Alex's head before he went to his own bed and laid down.

Alex spent the rest of the night staring up at the ceiling and wondering what the hell was going on.

**December**

"Alright, that's it."

Chris looked over as Alex stormed out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist; Chris sitting on his bed, leaning against the headboard, flipping through channels on the TV. He raised an eyebrow when Alex marched over to the bed and glared down at him.

"I can't take this shit any more," Alex went on, his voice hard. "And I'm just tired of hiding this. I'm completely gone on you and I want to fuck you into next week. What do you think about that?"

"I think it took you fucken long enough," Chris said, smirking at the utter disbelief on Alex's face before he moved and yanked Alex's arm until he was sprawled on the bed next to him.

Alex managed to roll over onto his side before Chris captured in his mouth in a rough kiss.

It wasn't until later, when they were both half dead and panting, that Alex managed to find enough brain cells to form a complete sentence.

"Since when?" He asked, his lips curling into a contented smile when Chris turned onto his side and draped his arm along Alex's waist.

"Since I started paying attention," Chris answered, brushing a quick kiss across Alex's lips and then settling down next to him. "Can we please get some sleep? You can analyze anything you want tomorrow -after I've had some sex and breakfast, in exactly that order."

Alex spent the rest of the night grinning up at the ceiling and listening to Chris's quiet snores, content for the first time in months.


End file.
